In1987 Billy Wilson AKA Mr Mouse, put on the first modern day Obstacle course race and called it Tough, a few years later a certain Will Dean spent time at the farm for unfortunates doing studies, he then took the tough guy concept back to the good old USA and Tough Mudder was founded, what followed was years of libel suits against Mr dean and lots of investigations into Billy Wilson Charity affairs, Mr dean settled his dispute with Mr Wilson in terms of an undisclosed settlement and the charity commissions cleared Mr Wilson of any wrong doings but during this time Tough Guy grew to legendary status as the worlds Toughest Obstacle course race

On its 30thanniversary in 2017 it announced that it would be the last ever Original Tough Guy, and over 5,000 runners from over 30 countries travelled to pay homage to the last ever Tough Guy

Which brings us to the new event at the farm for the unfortunates

MR MOUSES EVENTS FORMERLY KNOWN AS TOUGH GUY

Arriving at the venue it appeared not much had changed, the farm is soaked in mud, the changing rooms are still the horse barn with a generous amount of straw on the floor, The registration desk is still the same, The start hill is still the same and the obstacles just the same, So here I am experiencing Dejavue, is this really a new event?

After getting changed and donning my gear I made my way to the start, this is one of my favourite starts in OCR, with the Ghost squad banging drums, the Viking horns a blowing, the smoke drifting across the hill whilst5,00 runners,sorry 1,000 are a top the Starting hill chanting, screaming and then the gun goes and every one charges downhill through the smoke and off on their own journey of physical and mental pain.

Tough Guy was always marketed to the Insane runners – are you big enough, brave enough, mental enough and fit enough to take on Tough Guy, but this event had no marketing plan so it was difficult to know what to expect other than the we would go for a shorter jog than previous years before coming back to the killing fields and the big obstacles

Well the jog was shorter and the usual slaloms had been replaced with smaller and lesser slaloms, Bear wood had been altered, instead of running through stream and under cargo nets we meandered through bracken trails and jumped through the odd puddle whilst climbing the odd A frame,

Coming out of bear wood and we negotiated a few small ponds before reaching the steeplechase, now this in the passed was the downfall of many a runner, jumping in and out of 30+ ditches filled with waist high water, it sapped your strength and reduced the core temperature, it took a lot out of many a runner that effects them later in the race, but this year we only did 10, this made it a little more .. dare I say the word … enjoyable,, without it being easy

Next was the killing field and this had also been reduced – Thee was no 100m barb wire crawl, no climbing over the ropes over the pond, the lake wade and the hurdles around it had been halved and the electrics where turned off, but don’t thing it was Easy

All the obstacles where still intact, The Tiger, the Behemoth the torture chamber tunnels, the rope traverses, the leap of faith into the murky waters of the dragon pool and of course the lollipops ( full submersions under 4 heavy logs giving you a brain freeze) and of course the 40 or so ditches filled with knee deep water to constantly climb in and out of

The finish line beckoned and 12.4 km down we crossed and got our shiny sports relief medal

So what are my thoughts, Its still Tough guy but a slightly watered Down version, Yes it is still tough, but also achievable

Tough guy the original bite was like a savage pit bull high on a blood frenzy

Mr Mouse event is more like a bit from an angry Jack Russell,

But be careful because that jack Russell has razor like teeth and should the weather change for the worse his Rottweiler friend may just come and help him

Oh and PS #BRINGBACKTHEBRASS

Check out the route, PS ignore the last bit as I left the Garmin on during the drive home